An order issued by Judge Terry Doughty of the US District Court for the Western District of Louisiana said some government agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services and the FBI, were banned from getting in touch with social media companies for “the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner the removal, deletion, suppression, or reduction of content containing protected free speech".

The injunction, issued on American Independence Day, is preliminary and comes in response to a suit filed by the attorneys-general of Louisiana and Missouri.

Republicans have long accused social media companies of censoring right-wing critics, while Democrats assert that platforms like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have failed to act on misinformation and hate speech, which at times leads to violence.

A White House spokesperson said in a statement: "This administration has promoted responsible actions to protect public health, safety, and security when confronted by challenges like a deadly pandemic and foreign attacks on our elections.

“Our consistent view remains that social media platforms have a critical responsibility to take account of the effects their platforms are having on the American people, but make independent choices about the information they present.”

Well-known American journalist Glenn Greenwald described the decision as a huge win for the US first amendment.

"Of course The New York Times depicts this anti-censorship ruling as a dangerous shield for 'disinformation', he added.

"The most surreal fact of US political life is that the leading advocates for unified state/corporate censorship are large media corporations."